This invention relates generally to construction and earth moving machinery, and more specifically it pertains to an apparatus for backfilling trenches and compacting the filling material.
The main essence of this device is that it enables one man to operate one machine to perform a task that ordinarily would require several men and machines. Where a backfilling job normally needs a loader or bulldozer to fill the trench, and a hand-operated wacker or backhoe plates to compact it, this earth moving rig of this invention can do the entire job alone.
The rig accomplishes this by using a bucket to load dirt and release it into a ditch. The bucket then swivels so that the flat end of it may be used to tamp down the dirt, while an attached vibrator unit aids in compaction of the dirt. Operated by a single worker, one earth moving rig obtains results that heretofore necessitated multiple machines and workers.
The uniqueness of the rig is that it includes a means by which to retrieve dirt and place it in a recess as well as a means by which to vibrate the bucket and compact the dirt filling material. While dirt retrieval and compaction are ordinarily functions of separate pieces of equipment, this invention is a combination of both.
Versatility of function is possible by a means for swiveling the bucket with respect to the boom. An operator can swivel the bucket or tamping plate 360.degree. with respect to the boom of implement as to allow tamping plate to fit parallel to the trench at any given angle of implement to trench. In this manner, the end of the bucket may be used with the vibrator to tamp down the filling material.
This invention also includes a means by which the dirt may be screened for unwanted large rocks or debris by filling bucket and vibrating the bucket to shake and separate rock and debris. The back side of the bucket is made up of adjustable blades that may be clamped in a variety of fixed positions, i.e., up, down or partially down. A removable handle manipulates the clamp.
When the blades are clamped up, the opening between them allows the dirt to sift through while the larger rocks and debris are caught. Blades clamped down close the openings and permit no material to filter through. Thus, the earth moving rig can screen the filling material or not, as the operator chooses.
The rig may also be equipped with an adjustable clamshell bucket system, where one bucket fits inside the other. The advantages of this is the ability to handle backfill material of two bucket quantity, and yet still close one inside the other to provide a narrow dimension tamping plate for narrow ditches. The buckets can be partially opened to provide a wider tamping plate for wider ditches. A second bucket will allow more of the ditch to be tamped.
The clamshell bucket system functions in the following manner. The buckets retrieve dirt by an opening and grasping motion, similar in fashion to a clam's movement. Hydraulic cylinders activate the opening and closing of the buckets. To dump the filling material in the trench, the operator may open the buckets, which allows the material to fall through the separation. The buckets then may be closed until the total surface area of both bucket ends equals the width of the trench.
The buckets can be adjusted to the desired width. The operator may then use the bucket ends and the vibrator to compact the dirt. Consequently, the operator does not need to move the bucket from one side of a two-foot trench to the other, as a single bucket-system would require. In this manner, the clamshell bucket system speeds up the compaction process.